President Lazarus Chakwera has come under fire over failure by his government to fulfil a commitment to protecting the country’s environment.

According to National Coordinator for Civil Society Network on Climate Change (CSONECC) Julius Ng’oma, Chakwera failed to outline specific commitments that his government is dedicated to work through during the delivery of his State of the Nation Address (SONA).

In an interview, Ng’oma reminded Chakwera to seriously consider environmental issues which he says are negatively affecting a number of sectors in the country.

“The President made a number of commitments to the nation that the Tonse led government is going to takes issues of clean-up day, waste management and climate management fund operationalisation.

“But today we were trying to remind the President of his commitment since when he was addressing the nation during the SONA on 12th May, 2021, he did not touch on some of things that his government commitment to do,” said Ng’oma.

The environmental multi stakeholder’s taskforce has also called upon government to enact the Disaster Risk Management Bill which was earlier passed by the august House.

“The President made commitment about operationalisation of the Malawi Environmental Policy and the operationalisation of the Disaster Risk Management Bill which committed that by earlier this year the Bill is going to be tabled in Parliament.

“In his SONA, the Malawi leader said one environmental challenge of great concern to him is the depletion of the country`s forests and loss of our biodiversity through the wanton cutting of trees and burning of charcoal,” he said

Ng’oma added that his government plans to facilitate the establishment and operationalization of the Malawi Environmental Protection Authority (MEPA), finalize Atomic Energy regulations, protect 88 forest reserves and 20 state owned industrial plantations and complete the review of the Forest Act.